Warrington is large, populous, and thriving town, occupies the northern bank of the river Mersey, about midway between the two great towns of Manchester and Liverpool. Warrington consists of four principal streets, mostly narrow, inconvenient to passengers, and unpleasant to the inhabitants; and though these are chiefly composed of shops, several handsome buildings are interspersed. The principal trade of this place has been in the manufacture and sale of sail-cloth or poldavy. Some other coarse articles and checks, have been made of materials imported at Liverpool, from Russia. Among other manufactures here may be specified, pin-making, glass-making, and iron-founding. At Warrington, the Mersey, by help of tide, admits vessels of seventy or eighty tons burden to Bank-quay, a little below the town, where warehouses, &c. are erected. The spring-tides rise, at Warrington-bridge, to the height of nine feet. The centre arch of this bridge gave way in 1821. Besides the parish church, here is a chapel of ease, and another chapel of the establishment, over the bridge, belonging to the parish of Groppenhall. There are also places of worship for Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Anabaptists, Methodists, Friends, &c. The Free School here is very well endowed, and the town contains a charity for educating and maintaining poor children of both sexes.

Warrington Academy, a seminary for Dissenters, was instituted here, several years since; and being supported by subscriptions, flourished for a considerable length of time under the care of various tutors of eminence, as Enfield, Wakefield, Percival, and others, but ultimately failed for want of adequate support.

A short distance north of Warrington on the road to Wigan, is Orford Hall, a seat of the Blackburn family. Here John Blackburn, Esq. died at the advanced age of ninety-six, having spent the calm evening of his life, like another Evelyn, under the flourishing plantations of his own culture.

Warrington has a considerable market on Wednesday, noted for lampreys and all sorts of fish, flesh, corn, potatoes, cattle, &c. The malt is so good here, that the ale brewed with it is not held inferior to the best in England. Business to a great amount has been done here at a fair in November, which continues several days, when cattle, Irish linens, Welch flannels, Yorkshire cloths, &c. are exposed to sale.

Here are also an iron-foundery, bell-foundery, copperas-works, and glass-houses, where the manufacturing and grinding of glass is carried on to a considerable extent; besides a pottery, a file and edge-tool manufactory. A great many children are also employed in the manufacture of pins.

The Priory of Augustines, which Leland mentions, was founded before 1379, and is now entirely demolished.

Warrington gave the title of Earl to Henry Booth, Lord Delamere, of Dunham Massey, 1690, 2 Will. and Mary, who was succeeded by his son George, who dying without issue male, the title became extinct; but was revived the same year in the person of Nathaniel Booth, grandson to the first Lord Delamere, who dying in 1770, the title is again extinct.

According to Mr. Whitaker, Warrington was a British town before the Romans came; "upon a stream whose largeness has made it frequently the boundary of kingdoms, and whose rapidity and deepness must ever have made it formidable to passing armies, this ford, then (as it seems), the only passage over the river from the mouth of its channel to the shallow at Thelwall, would necessarily be a post of considerable importance in war. And on a bank which, from the lowness of its level surface, could afford no convenient position for a fortress, such a site marked out by the plainest characters for the area of one, and placed directly at the end of the ford, must have been of equal importance for guarding it. So would the Sistuntii naturally think when, on the irruption of the Carnabii into the provinces of their neighbours, they resolved to provide for their own security by the fortification of their southern border. Surveying the banks of their limitary stream, and the ford at Warrington necessarily attracting their attention, they would easily seize this remarkable area, and instantly settle a sufficient garrison within it. And the ground of it was about eighteen statute acres in compass. The isthmus in its narrowest point was only about four or five yards in width, at the height of the tide, and about ten at its recess, and would easily be secured by a rampart and ditch. And a rampart of only three or four feet in height, erected, as that at Manchester appears to have been, not by openings in the line of the wall, but by ascents to the crest of it, would effectually prevent all those accidental overflowings of the land-floods to which the ground must have been previously subject, and by which it is now covered once or twice in a winter.

"When Agricola began to secure his new conquests in Lancaster, by the construction of several stations, the same reasons which had previously impelled the Britons to select, would equally induce the Romans to retain, this little peninsula of sand for the area of a regular fortress. The extent of it indeed was larger than what they generally chose for a station. But such a choice was merely founded upon a principle of necessary economy, and only calculated to prevent expenses, by precluding the necessity of more numerous defendants. And the number could never have been larger for this station than for that at Manchester; as the soldiers needed to defend only the breadth of thirty yards at the ford, and the width of ten at the isthmus. The river was a sufficient security on every other side, carrying in all parts a depth of three or four yards, and leaving probably, as even the present appearances of the channel concur to suggest, those deep holes in some, which have given to the site the popular denomination of Hell-holes, and the Roman road from Coccium to Condate, passing along the narrow isthmus, and approaching the western rampart, would greatly curve on the right, by the south-western angle of the latter, and edge along the side of the station, and just below the southern barrier. The passage of the river could not be attempted but during the absence of the tide; and there this road might have been safely travelled, extending along the lower bank of the river, and leading over the shallow to Latch- ford.

"Such was the site on which the ancient camp of the Romans, and the more ancient town of the Britons, were constructed. But so it is not now. The greatest strength of the isthmus, and the point most directly opposed to the current was about thirty yards in breadth. Thus broad was it, after it had been for ages silently corroded and violently plundered by the stream and tides. And about thirty- seven years ago the river bringing down an extraordinary body of waters from the hills, and discharging the fury of it directly against the isthmus, the whole substance of the mound began to shake, opened, and disappeared. The Mersey having now obtained a direct way, immediately deserted its rounded one, and transferred the site of the fortress from the northern to the southern bank: leaving its old important ford to become merely a way into a pasture, and giving up its channel to be planted with poplars, and to be grazed upon by cattle.

"This station is evidently the same that Ravennas fixes somewhere near Chester, and to which he gives the name of Veratinum, Vera-tiu or Ford Town. The certainty of a camp at Warrington, and the great similarity in the name of Veratinum to it, sufficiently intimate the former to be meant by the latter. And in popular pronunciation the similarity is still greater, Warrington being pronounced Warratin at present. In the records of Doomsday, indeed, it is written Wallington; but is so written from the customary substitution of an L for an R in the language of our Saxon ancestors, by which the name of the Wiltshire Ambresbury is changed in the same records into Amblesbury, and the appellation of Sarum, the Searsbyrig of the Saxon Chronicle, has long since been altered into Salisbury.

"At the distance of a few miles from this station, but on the southern bank of the Mersey, were formerly discovered more than twenty oblong pieces of lead.

"The discovery is sufficiently authenticated; and the inscriptions are interestingly curious. The venerable father of our British antiquaries has considered them as the memorial of some victory, which the Romans obtained over the Ceangi, or inhabitants of the north-western region of Cheshire.

"Early in the campaign of 79, when Agricola led his troops to the reduction of Lancashire, the main body appears to have advanced by way of Warrington. The inhabitants of the north-western region of Cheshire, the hardy Ceangi, or the herdsmen of the Carnabii, were secure in the protection of their bogs and forests, and had not yet submitted to the Roman arms. But Agricola pursued them to the last retreat of their marshes, and the banks of the Mersey; there attacked and defeated them near Norton, and subdued the whole country."

Not far from Warrington is Ravenhill, where a plate glass manufactory has employed about four hundred men, and it is said the glass made here equals what is brought from France.

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WARRINGTON is a parliamentary, municipal and county borough, market town and parish, the head of a union and county court district and petty sessional division, with stations on the main line of the London and North Western railway, the Liverpool and Stockport railway, and on the joint line of the Great Northern, Great Central and Midland railways. The Cheshire Lines Committee have constructed a short length of railway between Padgate and Sankey, on their Liverpool Extension line, with the object of avoiding the curve which carries the line through Warrington and so reducing the distance between Manchester and Liverpool. Warrington is 182 ½ miles from London by the London and North Western railway, 22 west-south-west from Manchester, 21 east from Liverpool, 19 south-by-west from Bolton, 29 south from Preston, 13 south from Wigan, 33 east from Birkenhead, 69 from Birmingham, 17 from Chester, 24 from Crewe, 49 from Fleetwood, 50 from Lancaster, 64 from Leeds, 12 south-by-west from Leigh, 33 south-west from Rochdale, 6 north-east from Runcorn, 13 ½ south-east from St. Helens, 63 from Sheffield, 40 from Southport, 49 from Stafford, 64 from Wolverhampton (all by rail), in the Newton division of the county, eastern division of the hundred of West Derby, rural deanery of Winwick, archdeaconry of Warrington and diocese of Liverpool.

This town was the head of a hundred (now merged in West Derby) at the time of the Domesday Survey and is there called “Walentune.” The hundred was probably co-extensive with the present parish, which includes the townships of Warrington, Burtonwood, Poulton with Fernhead, Rixton with Glazebrook and Woolston with Martinscroft. The town is on the river Mersey and on the old coach road from London to Liverpool, the Sankey canal passing it on the west. The great facilities which it enjoys for the transit of goods at very reasonable rates, both by canal and railway, its central position between Liverpool and Manchester, together with its command of Irish and Scotch markets through the port of Liverpool, give it substantial advantages. The Manchester Ship Canal, opened 1st Jan. 1894, passes through Latchford, and a substantial stone bridge crosses the Mersey, connecting Warrington with Latchford.

The parliamentary and municipal boundaries are not coextensive, but include parts of the townships of Warrington, Latchford, Thelwall and Appleton, that portion of the three latter outside the municipal borough being in the county of Chester.

The Reform Act of 1832 (2 and 3 Wm. IV. c. 45) gave Warrington the privilege of returning one member to Parliament. The town was incorporated in 1847 (11 and 12 Vict. c. 93). and the municipal borough was extended in 1890 by the Warrington Extension and Water Act,” and by Local Board Order, No. P., 1,167, confirmed by Local Government Board Provisional Confirmation (Warrington) Act, which came into operation Nov. 9, 1896, was again extended to include parts of Appleton, with Hull, Latchford Without, Walton inferior and Poulton with Fernhead and the whole of Little Sankey. It now consists of 8 wards in Warrington and one in Latchford, each ward having three councillors and one alderman: the borough has a commission of the peace and a police force, and is arranged in three divisions for County Council purposes, and was constituted a county borough October 1st, 1900, by Local Government Board Order, No. P., 1,629.

The town is lighted with gas by the Corporation and supplied with water from works at Winwick and Appleton, acquired by the Corporation in June, 1891. At the former, about three miles north, there is an extensive pumping station: the latter is about three miles south from Warrington.

The church of St. Elphin occupies the site of an ancient Norman structure erected in the 12th century, and replaced by a cruciform building in the Decorated style: in 1696 the tower was almost entirely renewed, and in 1761 the greater part of the remainder of the church had been taken down and rebuilt: in 1824 a small door leading to a stone stairway, conducting to a crypt under the chancel, was discovered on the left side of the chancel and on the steps was found a chasuble richly embroidered with figures of St. Paul, St. James the Less and St Elphege: this vestment was ultimately given to the Rev. Dr Molyneux, the Roman Catholic priest of St. Alban’s, Warrington, and is now part of the furniture of that chapel: the church was restored and enlarged between the years 1859 and 1867, under the superintendence of Messrs. Frederick and Horace Francis, architects, of London, at a cost of £15,242, and is now a building of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel with Boteler and Massy or Patten chapels, nave, aisles, crypt, and an embattled central tower with spire rising to a height of 300 feet and containing 8 bells, six dated 1698, and two 1885; during the restoration sedilia and a piscina were discovered and restored and there is also an Raster sepulchre on the north side of the chancel; there are thirteen stained windows, chiefly memorials, some being to members of the Lyons and Blackburne families; the organ cost £1,600: in the north aisle or Boteler chapel is an altar tomb of alabaster to Sir John Boteler kt. murdered at Bewsey in 1643, and his wife, with life-size effigies of both; in the south aisle is a mural monument to Francis Massy esq. of Rixton, d. Sept 27th, 1748, and in the Wilson-Patien chapel an altar tomb to Anna Maria, wife of John Wilson-Patten esq. M.P. (late Lord Winmarleigh, d. 1892), d. Aug. 4th, 1846: besides various modern mural monuments and brasses to this family: in 1888 a memorial brass was erected to the Rev. William Quekett M.A. 34 years rector: there are 1,500 sittings, all with but a few exceptions being free. The register dates from the year 1591, since which date upwards of 50,000 persons have been buried in the churchyard. The living is a rectory, net yearly value £660, with residence, in the gift of Lord Lilford, and held since 1888 by the Rev. Frederic William Willis M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and hon. canon of Liverpool.

Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastical parish formed Feb. 8th, 1870, from the parish of St. Elphin: the church, in Sankey street, and erected in 1760, at a cost of £2,571, upon the site of a much smaller edifice built in 1709, is a building of stone in the Classic style, and consists of nave, aisles and a small western tower containing one bell, which formerly hung in the old Market hall or Court house and lias rung the curfew for over 200 years: it bears this inscription, “EX DONO JOHANNIS BOOTH COLONELLI ET REOTORIS EMPORII DE WARRINGTON, ANNO DOMINI 1647;” there is also an illuminated clock: in 1872 the church was restored: the east window is a memorial to the Rev. Ralph Allen Mould M.A. a former vicar d. 24 March, 1860: the church has been restored since 1873, at a cost of £1,000, and affords 800 sittings. The register dales from the year 1816 only. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £390, in the gift of the rector for the time being of St. Elphin’s, Warrington, and held since 1878 by the Rev. Edward Ellis Orofton Carleton M.A. of St. John’s College, Cambridge, and surrogate.

St. Lukes, Liverpool road, consecrated on St. Luke’s day, 1893, and erected at a cost of £6,500, exclusive of site, is a chapel of ease to Holy Trinity, and has sittings for 520 persons. The architects were Messrs. Bodley and Garner, of London; the Rev. Herbert Robert Wild M.A. of Merton College, Oxford, has been curate in charge since 1893.

St. Ann’s is an ecclesiastical parish formed Nov. 4th, 1864, from St. Paul’s: the church, in Winwick road, and erected in 1868 at a cost of about £6,000, is of brick in the Early English style, and consists of apsidal chancel, nave, north and south porches, vestry and a tower on the south side with spire and containing one bell: there is a memorial window and 650 sittings. The register of baptisms dates from 1864, and of marriages from 1869. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £315, in the gift of Simeon’s trustees, and held since 1896 by the Rev. James Davies. A new vicarage house was built in 1903, as a memorial to Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, at a cost, including the value of the site, which was the gift of Col. R. Ireland Blackburne C.B. of £3,000.

St. Barnabas, Bank quay, is an ecclesiastical parish formed os a chapel of ease to St. Paul’s on land given by the Hon. Leopold W. H. Powys, at a total cost of £3,500, and is of brick in the Early English style, from designs by William Owen A.R.I.B.A, of Warrington; it consists of nave, with a vestry: there are 430 sittings. The register dates from the year 1879. The living in a vicarage, net yearly value £190, with residence, in the gift of the vicar of St. Pauls, and held since 1899 by the Rev. John Henry Garside Hollingworth M.A. of Durham University.

St. Paul’s is an ecclesiastical parish formed April 16th, 1841, from that of St. Elphin: the church, in Bewsey road, and erected in 1830 at an expense of £5,347, is a substantial stone structure in the Early English style, and consists of chancel, nave, aisles and a western tower containing 6 bells and a clock: the east window is stained: the church has been restored since 1873, at a cost of £2,320, and affords 1,000 sittings, of which 510 are free. The register dates from the year 1831. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £312, with residence, in the gift of four trustees, and held since 1902 by the Rev. William Bracecamp, who is chaplain of Warrington Union. The area is 750 acres: the population in 1901 was 64,242.

St. Peter’s is an ecclesiastical parish formed Oct. 20th, 1874, from the parishes of St. Elphin and St. Paul: the church, in Birchall street, and erected in 1890, at a cost of £5,000, from designs by Mr. Medland Taylor, of Manchester, is of red brick in the Gothic style, and consists of chancel, nave, south aisle, baptistery, organ chamber and vestries: an organ was provided in 1900: there are 700 sittings. The register dates from the year 1874. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £300, with residence, in the gift of the rector of Warrington and the vicar of St. Paul’s alternately, and held since 1892 by the Rev. Barwise Percival, of Ayerst Hall, Cambridge.

Warrington is in the Catholic diocese of Liverpool.

The Catholic church, Butter Market street, dedicated in honour of the Blessed Virgin, and erected from designs by the late A. Welby Pugin esq. was opened in September, 1877, and is a building of stone in the Gothic style, consisting of chancel, nave and aisles; attached are sacristies and a presbytery: a new altar was erected in 1885, at a cost of £600. There are three other Catholic churches; for places of worship.

The Cemetery, Manchester road, consecrated by the Bishop of Chester on the 23rd day of March, 1857, is 34 acres in extent, half of which is apportioned to the Church and half to the Nonconformists and Roman Catholics. There are three mortuary chapels. It is under the control of the cemetery committee of the Corporation.

The Town Hall, in Sankey street, formerly known as Bank Hall, the seat of the late Colonel the Right Hon. John Wilson-Patten, afterwards Lord Winmarleigh, was purchased by the Corporation in 1872 for the sum of £22,000, assisted by liberal donations from Mr. George Crosfield and Colonel Wilson-Patten; this amount included the cost of the grounds, 17 ½ acres, in which the Hall stands and which the Corporation has thrown open to the public as a park: the building was erected in the year 1750 from the designs of Leoni, an eminent architect of that period, and is substantially built in the Classic style, commanding an extensive view over one of the most beautiful districts in Cheshire. In front of the hall are handsome cast iron gates, presented to the town by F. Monks esq. J.P. of Walton Old Hall, and F. W. Monks esq.: they were exhibited at the international Exhibition. London, in 1862, and were made by the Coalbrookdale Iron Co. Salop; a fountain, the gift of Sir Peter Walker, has been placed in the park.

Parr Hall, Palmyra square, presented to the town by J. Charlton Parr esq. and opened in September, 1895, was erected at a cost of about £10,000, and Contains a hall, 108 by 64 ½ feet exclusive of an organ chamber, and has a gallery. There are also a number of ante-rooms and cloak rooms. The hall will seat about 1,500 people, and is used for public meetings and entertainments.

A County Court, with offices for the inland Revenue attached, was erected in 1897, at the corner of Winwarleigh street and Palmyra square.

The Police buildings are in Arpley street, and have cells on the ground floor, a sessions-room for the daily sittings of the magistrates, and a house for the resident inspector.

Warrington Public Baths, in Legh street, were erected by a joint stock company in 1866, from the designs of the late Mr. B. P. Coxon, at a cost of £2,000, and purchased by the Corporation of Warrington in 1873 for the sum of £1,200; there are three plunge baths, a new one being added in 1893 at a cost of £5,000, six private baths and two shower baths, open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on week days and from 6 to 9 a.m. on Sundays. the charges ranging from 2d. to 6d.

The Gymnasium, in Palmyra square, built in 1891, by private subscription, and transferred to the Corporation in 1896. is of brick with stone dressings, from designs by Mr. J. E. Wright, of this town, and comprises a hall 84 by 42 feet, reading, dressing and retiring rooms, gallery and lavatories.

The Museum, a plain two-storeyed building of brick and stone, stands at the corner of Bold and Museum streets, upon land given by the late Lord Winmarleigh and covers an area of about 800 square yards: the main portion was erected to 1855—7 and contains the library and museum; an art gallery and lecture room were added in 1876 and a second entrance and staircase with offices and ante-rooms in 1881: the total cost of the building has been upwards of £6,000, of which about half was raised by subscription: the institution was established on its present footing by the adoption in 1848 of the Museums Act, Warrington being the first town in the kingdom in which a rate-supported library was opened free to the public. The basis of the collection was formed by the transfer to the Corporation of the museum belonging to the Natural History Society, and the books of the Town Library, founded in 1760. The Museum contains departments of Natural History, Antiquities and Art, and there are collections of insects, shells, birds, reptiles, fossils, minerals, English coins and seals. Local antiquities are well represented, including remains from the Roman station at Wilderspool, and the Austin Friary church, discovered in 1886. In the Art Gallery is the great marble group of Michael and Satan, by J. Warrington Wood, a native of the town, with a number of other works by the same sculptor. The pictures include the Robson collection presented by William Robson esq. The Library has 30,000 volumes, divided into lending and reference departments, and there is a large local collection of printed matter and manuscripts, including 500 ancient charters.

Admission to the Museum and Library is entirely free. The Warrington Field Club holds its meetings upon the premises. Chairman of Committee, Ald. Arthur Bennett; secretary, curator and librarian, Charles Madeley.

The building of the School of Art, in Museum street, was erected in 1883 at a cost of £4,000, from designs by Mr. William Owen F.R.I.B.A. of Warrington, and was enlarged about 1897. On the ground floor are the entrance hall, attendant’s room, elementary and other class rooms, cloak rooms and lavatories. On the first floor is a painting room, a gallery for drawing from the antique, and a master’s room.

The Fire Engine station fronts Golborne street and Queen street, at the old fair ground, and includes housing for the engines, fire escape, hose cart &c. a tower, smithy, dwelling house for the engineer, firemen’s workshops, sleeping apartments and storehouse. The brigade consists of one superintendent, two engineers and 16 firemen.

The Gentlemen’s Club, at the corner of Bold and Egypt streets, is a picturesque building in the Gothic style, containing entrance hall, dining, reading, billiard and smoking rooms, with card and committee rooms and other necessary offices and was erected in 1876 from the designs of Mr. Thomas Beesley, architect, of this town.

The premises of the Conservative Club are in Sankey street, and those of the Liberal Club at 67 and 69 Bewsey street.

Warrington is the headquarters of the 8th and 40th Regimental Districts, comprising the Regular, Militia and Volunteer battalions of the King’s (Liverpool) and Prince of Wales’s Volunteers (South Lancashire) regiments: the depot of the line battalions and the headquarters of the Militia battalions are in Orford barracks, Marsh House lane: the Drill hall of the Volunteers is in Bath street.

Warrington is the head-quarters of the Liverpool Volunteer infantry Brigade.

The industries of Warrington are very various, and include the manufacture of bar and hoop iron and wire rods, as well as of tools and files, wire drawing and weaving and brewing, and the making of glass, soap, chemicals, cotton and tapestry, occupies many of the inhabitants. This town has long been celebrated for its files and tools, pinion-wire and piano-wire, all of which have a European reputation. Fustian cutting gives employment to several hundreds of persons, chiefly females.

This town and its vicinity is also the centre of the northern tanning trade for heavy sole leather: within a radius of a few miles there are over 25 heavy sole tanneries, using on an average from 8,000 to 10,000 hides per week; a great part of the sole leather used in the boots and shoes manufactured for the army and police is made in this neighbourhood; leather for belts for driving machinery is also made here, and there are manufacturers of picker hides &c.

The Market Hall, erected in the year 1856—7 from designs by Mr. J. Stevens, of Manchester, is a covered building near the centre of the town. The principal market day for butter, eggs, vegetables and agricultural produce is Wednesday: a corn market is held on the same day and Saturday may also be considered a market day.

A large covered shed, off Market street, and occupying about an acre of ground, was erected in 1879, and enlarged in 1885. Here are the offices of the inspector of the markets and of weights and measures.

Fairs are held on July 18th and November 30th for horses, and for cattle and sheep on the days respectively preceding.

The infirmary and Dispensary, in Kendrick street, overlooking the park, is a building on the pavilion principle, in the Elizabethan style, erected in 1872 at a cost of £7,300, from the designs of Messrs. John Pierpont and Son, and enlarged in 1876 at a cost of about £5,000: it will now accommodate 40 patients. The number of in-patients admitted to the infirmary during 1903 was 490; the out-patient department and dispensary were removed to new premises adjoining, erected in 1897, at a cost of £2,000, from the designs of Mr. William Owen, of Cairo street, architect, and in 1903, 3,068 outpatients were under treatment.

The infectious Diseases Hospital at the end of Aikin street, a short distance from the Workhouse, was erected in 1878, from designs by Mr. Thomas Longden, borough surveyor, at a cost of £7,000 and consists of two 12-bed pavilions and one of four beds, with administrative offices.

Victoria Park, Latchford, formerly the “Old Warps” estate, consists of a large house and 52 acres of land, and was purchased by the Corporation for £10,000, and opened April 3rd, 1897. About 40 acres of the land has been utilized for the park. The house was originally built in the time of Charles II, but was renovated and restored by the late Mr. Gibson, about 1837.

Queen’s Gardens, Palmyra square, opened April 3rd, 1897, were acquired by the Corporation in the same year, and have an area of nearly 5,000 square yards.

Here was a house of Augustine friars founded before 1279 and dissolved by Henry VIII.: the memory of the building is still preserved in the names of Friars’ gate and Friars green. The site of the church was discovered and the greater part of the foundations of its walls laid bare in 1886, when the the pavement of the choir and a number of carved stones were removed and placed in the museum. An inscription was at the same time placed on a building in Friar’s green, which occupies a portion of the site of the nave. There are black and white timbered houses of the 17th century in the Market place, Butter Market street and Church street.

Bewsey Hall, the old seat of the Botelers, Barons Boteler of Warrington, in the 13th century, about a mile north-west of the town, is the property of Lord Lilford: one portion of the building may, perhaps, be of the 15th century, but it has been modernized: part, of the old moat is still remaining.

The manor with several of the townships came into the hands of the Butlers, or Botelers, in the time of Henry III. and passed from the last heir male of that family to the Earl of Leicester in the time of Queen Elizabeth. After many changes the manor was bought by-Blackburne esq. of Orford, but the market rights now belong to the corporation of Warrington.

Arthur Aikin, eldest son of John Aikin M.D. and for 23 years secretary of the Society of Arts, was born here 19th May, 1773, and was brother to Miss Lucy Aikin, the well known historical writer: his father, John Aikin M.D. mentioned above, was the only son of the Rev. John Aikin, for rainy years tutor in divinity at the famous dissenting academy here. Mrs. Barbauld, the distinguished authoress, was also of this family.

William Enfield LL.D, editor of “The Speaker”; Joseph Priestley LL.D., F.R.S.; John Reinhold Forster LL.D, naturalist; John Taylor D.D. author of a Hebrew and English Concordance; and the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield B.A. editor of “Virgil and Lucretius,” were all tutors at the Warrington academy.

The principal landowners are Lord Newton, of Lyme Hall; the trustees of the late Lord Winmarleigh (d. 1892), Robert Ireland Blackburne esq. C.B., D.L., J.P. of Hale Hall; and Thomas Henry Lyon esq. of Appleton Hall, Cheshire.

The soil is loamy and fertile, with rich meadows on the banks of the Mersey. A vast quantity of excellent potatoes are grown here and also early vegetables for the supply of the neighbouring markets.

The area of Warrington parish and county borough is 2,981 acres of land, 77 of water, 67 of tidal water and 11 of foreshore; rateable value, £251,203; the population of the municipal borough in 1881 was 41,452, in 1891, 52,743, and in 1901 was 64,242, including 26 officials and 434 inmates of the workhouse, and 571 military and 115 families, servants &c. in Orford Barracks. The population of the municipal wards in 1901 was:-Bewsey, 5,007; Fairfield, 7,387; Howley, 6,647; Latchford, 7,985; Orford, 7,387; St. Austin’s, 6,266; St. John’s, 10,298; Town Hall, 5,385 and White Cross, 7,480. The population of the ecclesiastical parishes in 1901 was:-St. Ephin (parish church), 16,238; Holy Trinity, 6,759; St. Ann, 8,602; St. Barnabas, 7,377; St. Paul, 6,927; St. Peter, 10,354.

The population of the parliamentary borough in 1901 was 64,701, of which 5,811 are in the county. The number of electors on the parliamentary register in 1903 was 10,281.

At Wilderspool, about a mile from the centre of the town, on the south bank of the Mersey, many traces of Roman occupation, such as pottery and coins, have been found, and several roads, one especially leading to the south, are still occasionally met with in draining; these are formed of fragments of the red sandstone of the neighbourhood, of a foot and a half to two feet in depth, covered with a foot or more of gravel.

Considerable progress was made in 1900 with the excavations here, and chief among the discoveries have been a number of hypocausts in varying stages of preservation. The over-arch, which in the case of others previously unearthed has unfortunately collapsed, was in one instance found to be intact, and there was also the accompanying floor of the furnace by which the chamber was originally heated.

Parish Clerks.-St. Elphin (Parish Church), Thomas Lloyd, 133 Church street; Holy Trinity, John Jefferson, Trinity place; St. Anne, Samuel Daniel, 62 Winwick road; St. Paul, George Bebbington, 6 Marson street; St. James, Latchford, John Henry Green, 96 Knutsford road; Christ Church, Latchford, Thomas Norman, 641 Knutsford road, Latchford.

St. James's is an ecclesiastical parish formed July 27, 1866, from the parishes of Grappenhall, Thelwall and Warrington: the church, upon Wilderspool causeway, was erected in 1829, and is a plain building of stone in the Early English style, consisting of chancel, nave, aisles and a western tower with pinnacles containing a clock and one bell: the church was restored in 1881 at a cost of £500, and again in 1896 at a further cost of £500, and has 570 sittings. The register dates, from the year 1770. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £280, with residence, in the gift of the rector of Grappenhall, and held since 1903 by the Rev. Herbert Boiseau Firth M.A. of Lincoln College, Oxford.

Christ Church is an ecclesiastical parish formed March 13, 1866, from the civil parish of Grappenhall: the church, in Wash lane, and consecrated July, 1861, is a building of stone in the Decorated style, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle, organ chamber, south porch, vestries, and a western tower with spire containing one bell: there are some stained windows and 350 sittings, 240 being free. The register dates from the year 1863 for baptisms and from 1886 for marriages. The living is a vicarage, net yearly value £200, with residence, in the gift of the rector of Grappenhall, and held since 1903 by the Rev. George Cecil Briggs M.A. of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

The Catholic church, erected in 1869, and dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, is in St. Mary road and has schools attached. There is a Bethel Baptist chapel, erected in 1860, in Wash lane. The principal trades carried on here are tanning, pin, file and tool making, wire working and brush making. The population in 1901 was St. James’, 5,492, which, with the exception of two persons, are in Cheshire; Christ Church, 3000.

Petty sessions are held at the County Court, Warrington, every first & third Wednesday in the month at 11 a.m. & at the Sessions Room, Newton-le-Willows, every second & last thursday in the month at 10 a.m. The following places are in the petty sessional division:-Burton Wood, Cuerdley, Golborne, Haydock, Houghton, Newton, Penketh, Poulton, Rixton, Sankey (Great), Southworth, Winwick, Woolston & Warrington (ex-municipal.)

LIVERPOOL VOLUNTEER INFANTRY BRIGADE.

Commanding Brigade, The Officer Commanding the 8th & 40th Regimental Districts.

Brigade-Major, Capt. H. A. Denham.

Senior Medical Officer, Brig.-Surg.-Lt.-Col. G. Westby V.D. 2nd Vol. Batt. Liverpool Regiment.

Composed of: —

1st Volunteer Battalion The King’s (Liverpool Regiment); head-quarters, 65 St. Anne, street, Liverpool.

2nd Volunteer Battalion The King’s (Liverpool Regiment); headquarters, Upper Warwick Street, Liverpool.

3rd Volunteer Battalion The Kings (Liverpool Regiment); headquarters, Southport.

4th Volunteer Battalion The King’s (Liverpool Regiment); headquarters, 77 Shaw street, Liverpool.

5th (Irish) Volunteer Battalion The King’s (Liverpool Regiment); head-quarters, 50 & 52 Everton brow, Liverpool.

Warrington union board meets every alternate Wednesday at 9 30 a.m. in the board room, Union workhouse, to administer relief & for formal business; the guardians for Warrington acting as a relief committee for that township & other guardians for remaining townships, the special business being taken fortnightly at 10.30 a.m.

The Union comprises the following places:-Buttonwood, Cuerdley, Haydock, Houghton, Newton-le-Willows, Penketh, Poulton-with-Fearnhead, Rixton-with-Glazebrook, Great Sankey, Southworth-with-Croft, Warrington, Winwick-with-Hulme & Woolston-with-Martinscroft. The area of the union is 27,934 acres; rateable value in 1904, £454,028; the population in 1901 was 100,012.

Earlestown; Rixton sub-district, James Daintith, Woolston: deputy, James Hepherd, Woolston; Sankey sub-district, Joseph Smith; deputy, Frank Hughes, Penketh; Winwick sub-district, Peter Birchall, Arbury, Newton-le-Willows; deputy, Jane Birehall, Arbury, Newton-le-Willows.

The Union workhouse is in Guardian street, & has a general hospital, fever hospital, lunatic & vagrant wards & a chapel; it will hold 407 inmates.

PLACES OF WORSHIP, with times of Services

St. Elphin’s (Parish Church), Church street, Rev. Canon Willis M.A. rector; Rev. Archibald Stuart Cameron M.A. Rev. Arthur Frederic White M.A. & Rev. Gerald William Dickinson B.A. curates; 8 & 10.30 a m. & 3 & 6.30 p.m.; dally prayers, 8 a.m. & 5.30 p.m.; celebrations, Wed. & Fri. 7.30 a.m.

Holy Trinity, Sankey street, Rev. Edward Ellis Crofton Carleton M.A. vicar; Rev. Herbert Robert Wild M.A. & Rev. Arthur Inglis. M. A. curates; 8 & 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. & Fri. 11 a.m. & Thur. 7.30 p.m.

St. Barnabas, Lovely lane, Rev. John Henry Garside Hollingworth M.A. vicar; Rev. Paul Moses Forrest B.A. curate; 8 & 10.30 a.m. & 6: 30 p.m.; daily, 9.45 a m. & 5 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

St. Ann’s, Winwick road, Rev. James Davies, vicar; Rev. Danl. Kerrin, curate; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

St. James’, Latchford, Rev. Herbert Boiseau Firth M.A. vicar; 8 & 10.30 a.m. & 3.30 & 6.30 p.m.; daily services, 10 a.m.

St. Paul’s, Bewsey road, Rev. William Bracecamp, vicar; Rev. Thomas Whiteside Barber B.A.; Rev. Richard Heber Bowen & Rev. Clement James Edwards B.A. curates; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 8 p.m.

Christ Church, Latchford, Rev. George Cecil Briggs M.A. vicar; 8.15 & 10.45 a.m.; 6.30 p.m.

St Peter’s, Birchall street, Rev. Barwise Perclval, vicar; Rev. David, Rhys James B.D. curate; 10.30 a.m. & 2.30 & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

St. Luke’s, Liverpool road (Chapel of Rase to Holy Trinity), Rev. Herbert Robert Wild M.A, curate in charge; 8 A 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.

St. Johns Presbyterian Church of England, Winwick street, Rev. J. L. Milne; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Catholic (St. Mary’s), Butter Market street, Rev. Neville Vincent Wilson O.S.B.; Rev. Peter Cuthbert Mercer O.S.B., D.D. (superior). & Rev. Reginald Basil Primavesi O.S.B, priests; 8, 9 & 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; daily at 7.30, 8 & 8.30 a.m.; Thur. 8 p.m.

Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, Liverpool road, Rev. Michael Ryan, priest; mass, 8.30 & 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; week days, mass 8 a.m. summer & 8.30 a.m. winter; Wed. 8 p.m.

Catholic (St. Alban’s), Bewsey street; Rev. John Placid Whittle O.S.B.; Rev. Bernard John Gibbons O.S.B. & Rev. Thomas Oswald Swarbreck, priests; 8, 9.30 & 11 a.m. & 6 p.m.; daily, at 7.30 & 8.30 a.m.; Wed. at 8 p.m.

Catholic (St. Mary’s), Latchford, Rev. James McGrath & Rev. Arthur H. D’Arcy, priests; 9 & 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; mass, 8 & 8.30 a.m. daily & benediction 7.30 p.m. Thur.; Lymm attached, mass fortnightly, 10 a.m.

Baptist, Wash lane, Latchford, Rev. John Francis Matthews; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Thur. 7.45 p.m.

Baptist (particular), Legh street, Rev. Charles L. Stowe; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Baptist, Golborne street, Rev. Herbert Dunnico; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 8 p.m.

Congregational (Wycliffe), Bewsey street, Rev. John Yonge; 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.: Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Friends’ Meeting House, Butter Market street, 10.30 a.m.Emmanuel (Reformed Church of England, Bold street; 10.30 am, & 6.30 p.m.

Free Church, Academy street; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Wed. & Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Independent Methodist, Cairo street; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Mon. 8 p.m.; Thur. 8 p.m.

Primitive Methodist, Legh street, Rev. Charles L. Stowe; 10.30 а.m. & 6.30 p.m.: Thur. 7.30 p.m.; Knutsford road, 6 p.m.; Wed. 7.30 p.m.; Sharp street, 6.30 p.m.; Wed. 8 p.m.

United Methodist, Buckley street, Dallam lane; 11 & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.

Unitarian, Cairo street, Rev. Charles Harvey —Cook; 10.45 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

Wesleyan, Bold street, Revs. George H, Carnson, R. Wilkins Rees & Joseph Manning; Rev. John Gunnell A Rev. Joseph Howard, supernumeraries; 10,30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.,; Wed. 7.30 p.m.; Bewsey road, 10.30 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.; Sankey Bridges, 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.; Latchford, 10.46 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.; Thur. 7.30 p.m.; mission room, Ellesmere street, 6.30 p.m.

Christadelphian Meeting Room, Bridge st.; 10.30 a.m. A 6.30 p.m.

Welsh Church, Crosfield street, Rev. William John Roberts; 10.30 a.m. & 6 p.m.

Working Men’s Mission Chapel, Thewlis street; 11 a.m. & 6.30 p.m.

SCHOOLS

Boteler Grammar School, at School brow, now a secondary school, was founded in 1526 by Sir Thomas Boteler, of Bewsey, & endowed with estates producing about £900 yearly. The premises were rebuilt, with a residence for the headmaster & the school was reopened in 1864, affording space for 100 day boys besides boarders. There are 16 free scholarships tenable in the school & 3 exhibitions of £50 a year each, tenable for four years at the universities or some other place of higher education: the number of boys is at present (1904) about 100: the management is entrusted to fifteen governors, of whom 8 are co-optative & 7 representative.

Training College for school mistresses' at The. Mount; Fairfield Hall & Orford Hall, Manchester road: during the year 1904 there were 137 students in residence; the college is managed by a committee of 48 gentlemen, of whom 23 represent Manchester, 13 Chester & 12 Liverpool; principal, Rev. Morley Stevenson M.A.; lady superintendent, Miss Ferriman; lady supt. of Fairfield Hall, Miss Gordon; lady supt. of Orford Hall, Miss Ackerley; hon. secretary, The Dean of Manchester Blue Coat, Winwick road, founded in the year 1665 by Mr. John Allen, a native of the town, whose object was to apprentice annually “five poore boys to some handicraft trades”: in 1677 it was decided to raise funds for the extension of the plan & trustees were appointed; about 1690 these augmented funds were invested in land, & to the original design of merely apprenticing was added that of affording a prior education: in 1711 the number of boys bo educated was 24, & as a further encouragement they were provided with caps & bands, to which suits of blue cloth & shoes were subsequently added: in 1778 the present building was erected, a special fund having been raised for that purpose, & it was opened in 1782, under the name of the “Blue Coat Hospital,” 30 legitimate children of poor parishioners being admitted & boarded, lodged, clothed & educated, & in 1832 the trustees obtained an Act of Parliament: the number of foundation scholars is now (1904) 70; in 1855, at the suggestion of the late governor, the old pupils formed a society called The Warrington Blue Coat Brotherly Society,” which has for its objects, among others, the cultivation of a friendly feeling among those who have been educated in the school, the visiting of boys apprenticed, the relief of the needy & the formation of classes & excursion parties: the income of the school is about £1,500 yearly.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.

Fairfield National, Fairfield street, erected in 1893 (girls & infants); girls departments hold 571; average attendance, 552; infants’, holding 249; average attendance, 249.

Warrington Parochial (boys), Church street, built in 1833, for 674 children; average attendance, boys, 667.

Warrington Parochial (infants), Ellesmere street, built in 1893, & enlarged in 1899, for 420 children; average attendance, 290.

Latchford National, Wash lane (mixed), enlarged in 1872, for 230 children; average attendance, 233.

Latchford National, Grappenhall road (infants), for 229 children; average attendance, 164.

Hamilton Street National, erected in 1886 for 280 boys, 317 girls & 191 infants; average attendance, 297 boys, 310 girls & 197 infants.

Ladies’ School of industry (girls), Smith street; Mersey street, built in 1884, for 221 children; average attendance, 202.

Trinity, National (mixed), Museum, street, built in, 1885, for 234 children; average attendance, 233.

St. Ann’s (senior mixed, junior, mixed &. infants), Dannett st. Winwick road, for 292 senior mixed; 259 junior mixed & 184 infants; average attendance, 321 senior mixed; 264 junior mixed; 176 infants.

St. Barnabas (mixed & infants), Lovely lane, built in 1885, for 435 children; average attendance, 433.

St. Georges Mission, Brick street (infants), for 252 children; average attendance, 250.

St. James’, Old road, Latchford (mixed & infants); built in 1887, for 521 mixed & 178 infants; average attendance, 438 mixed & 175 infants.

Holy Trinity (infants), Liverpool road, for 277 children; average attendance, 241.

Heath Side National (boys), Heath side, built in 1853, for 675 children; average attendance, 399;; Rolleston street (girls), & Kendrick street (infants), for 441 girls & 225 infants; average attendance, girls, 325; infants, 197.

St. Peter’s (infants), John street, Winwick street, for 296 children; average attendance, 253.

Bank Quay (Thewlis street) (infants), built in 1898—9, for 228 children; average attendance, 132.

St Alban’s Catholic (mixed & infants), 23 King street, built in 1863, for 530 children; average attendance, mixed, 318 & infants, 116.

St. Benedicts Catholic (mixed & infants), near Orford lane, built for 647 children; average attendance, mixed 254 & infants, 295.

St. Mary’s Catholic (boys, girls & infants), Butter Market street, for 300 boys, 352 girls & 183 infants; average attendance, boys, 305, girls, 292 & infants, 189.

St. Mary’s Catholic, St. Mary’s road, Latchford (mixed), for 332 children; average attendance, 171.

Sacred Heart Catholic (mixed & infants), Liverpool road, built in 1898 at a cost of £2,000, for 350 children; average attendance, 173 mixed & 127 infants.

Infants’, British, Cairo street, for 297 children; average attendance, 189.

Warrington British (mixed), Arpley street, built in 1872, for 864 children; average attendance, 900.

British (Wycliffe) (mixed & infants), Bewsey street, for 733 mixed & 195 infants; average attendance, 522 mixed & 188 infants.

Wesleyan (mixed), Wesley hall, Silver street, opened in 1875 & enlarged in 1899, for 777 children; average attendance, 716.

Wesleyan (infants), Sankey Bridges, opened in 1898 for 212 children; average attendance, 165.